Scientists at Yale have developed a so-called 'Anti-Laser', which traps and dissipates light, in the process turning it into heat.They're quick to point out that it's not meant to function as a defense against laser weaponry since, well, you still end up with all that heat energy delivered by the laser. Instead, it would probably find use in computing & other 'civilian' applications.

Meanwhile, the US Army, and probably the USMC, is planning to field its new Enhanced Combat Helmet this fall.Apparently, it's such an improvement over the existing ACH that it couldn't be evaluated properly with their current test equipment!

Last I heard, the Commandant doesn't want us using a new helmet unless it can stop direct hits with 7.62mm. I won't get one, regardless, though my unit did just switch to 100% M4s (unfortunately; crappy ballistics, makes the 500-yard targets iffy, especially with the RCO and its lack of windage adjustment). Lots of talk about protection from fragments in that article, but that's not the problem with the existing helmets, especially considering how rarely anyone in Afghanistan is injured from anything other than IEDs, at least where the Marines are.

A second X-37Bwas launched successfully last March 5. As with the first one, there's no word so far on what it's carrying, what it's supposed to be doing, or when it'll be coming back.

Tired of drilling holes in your nice, solid ship's hulls & bulkheads just to pass a couple of tiny electrical cables through? Now there's no more need for those pesky holes or wires, or so it seems. Now, I have to wonder if this system can be used as well, and still maintain its efficiency, with composite materials--such as the laminate armour used by current-generation main battle tanks. I wonder if this can be applied to spacecraft as well...

AeroVironment, sponsored by DARPA, debuted last February to the public its Nano Hummingbird technology demonstrator. It and its inevitable derivatives certainly have a number of forseeable immediate uses, and its ornithopter mode of flight gives it a lot of flexibility (I'm quite delighted at how stable the camera seems to be), but it saddens me that there'll probably be 'swat to kill' orders for hummingbirds around sensitive government installations sometime in the near future....

Meanwhile, the much-criticized V-22 Osprey Tilt-rotor has passed the 100,000 hour mark for accumulated flight time. I'll leave any commentary to Black_Knight since he's probably the one most often in close proximity to the things.

Continuing with rotorcraft, the unmanned K-MAX cargo synchropter accomplishes a successful demonstration. Ditto for the unmanned Fire Scout, which also successfully completed at-sea trials with a Littoral Combat Ship and some frigates.

Metal Storm has developed the 'Fury,' a new version of its 'Firestorm' weapon which takes into account a good deal of feedback from the US Marines. It's also in talks with Colt to manufacture the MAUL, a 12-gauge weapon that can be attached to the M4.

Bad news. The US Senate canceled funding for the US Navy's Laser and Railgun programs. As if that weren't bad enough the Littoral Combat Ship is being given a waiver on having to undergo the mandatory stress tests.

Japan has also made a foray into commercial space launches, with a successful deployment of a South Korean satellite and three domestic ones. They're very aware that, at present, they still have to bring down their launch costs in order to compete with other countries.

Last but not least, an Egyptian student has developed a rather exotic form of spacecraft propulsion. Given the absence of any onboard propellant, my first reaction was "LOL, Dean Drive," but upon further reading, this looks like it could be very useful for spacecraft operating in the (very) low-thrust regime.

Last but not least, in a case of life imitating art, the people at the US Army's NSRDEC have developed the 'Ironman high-capacity ammunition carriage system.' Yes, it's basically the backpack ammo-carrier for Jessie Ventura's minigun from the movie 'Predator.'